Dear All,
From time to time, I have mentioned Jeremy Bernstein's marvelous essay titled “How Do We Know that Albert Einstein Was Not a Crank?” It is published in his book, Cranks, Quarks, and the Cosmos.
Bernstein opens with this passage:
—snip—
The year is 1905. I am a professor of physics at the University of Bern. For many years, I have been teaching, probably from the same set of notes, respectable courses based on what is for me the familiar and comfortable physics of the nineteenth century. I teach the mechanics of Newton, the relatively modern theories of electricity and magnetism of James Clerk Maxwell, along with good solid nineteenth-century thermodynamics. I believe that atoms exist although I am troubled occasionally by the question that, around the turn of the century, Ernst Mach asked Ludwig Boltzmann: "Have you seen one?" All in all, it is a good, comfortable life. Then, with no warning at all, a series of physics papers begins arriving in the mail. They carry the return address of the Swiss National Patent Office in Bern. The covering letter identifies their author as a patent examiner -- a technical expert "third class" -- of whom I have never heard. He does not even have a doctoral title. Upon browsing through the papers, I discover that this doctorless unknown is claiming -- using totally unfamiliar kinds of reasoning -- that essentially all of the physics I have been teaching is wrong. Not just wrong in a few minor details, but fundamentally wrong. What would my reaction be? What should it have been? In short, how could I then have known that the author of these papers -- the twenty-six-year-old Albert Einstein was not a crank?
—snip—
Every now and then, I get requests from subscribers to this list and others for a copy of the article. For those who are interested, I have posted Bernstein’s article to the “Teaching Documents” section of my Academia page at URL:
https://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman
Good holiday reading for researchers ….
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS | Editor-in-Chief | 设计 She Ji. The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation | Published by Tongji University in Cooperation with Elsevier | URL: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/she-ji-the-journal-of-design-economics-and-innovation/
Chair Professor of Design Innovation Studies | College of Design and Innovation | Tongji University | Shanghai, China ||| University Distinguished Professor | Centre for Design Innovation | Swinburne University of Technology | Melbourne, Australia
Email [log in to unmask] | Academia http://swinburne.academia.edu/KenFriedman | D&I http://tjdi.tongji.edu.cn
> On Dec 18, 2016, at 10:44 PM, roger malina <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Yasminers
>
> We are pleased to start our discussion : What does STEM to STEAM mean:
> New Ideas or Hot Moist Air ?
>
> Moderator: Roger Malina
>
> Discussants: Dimitris Charitos ( Prof at University of Athens ,
> Greece), Guillermo Munoz ( Spain, currently a nanoscience postdoc in
> Japan),Gemma Anderson ( Artist and Lecturer in Drawing at Falmouth
> University). Ken Friedman ( original fluxus member and design dean).
> *Julia Buntaine (Neuroscience-based art)
—snip—
> As you know there is an international discussion on "stem to
> steam"concepts and approaches for new art/sci/tech teaching and
> research methods. There is much debate and discussion on whether the
> ideas behind STEM to STEAM are new in anyway, or whether the phrase is
> a repackaging of current work in a way to attract new funding ( for an
> understanding the social and cultural processes at work in 'selling'
> programs like stem to steam - on a larger scale- see for instance
> Patrick McCray's detailed book called The Visioneers: How a Group of
> Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a
> Limitless Future http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9822.html )
—snip—
> ""STARTS encourages synergies between the Arts and innovation for
> technology and society by promoting the inclusion of artists in
> Horizon 2020 projects.An increasing number of high-tech companies
> assert that scientific and technological skills alone are not
> sufficient anymore. In this context, the Arts are gaining prominence
> as catalysts for an efficient conversion of science and technology
> knowledge into novel products, services, and processes.""
> We will start the discussion with posts from our invited respondents
>
> What is new in the STEM to STEAM concept ? What can be done easily now
> that was difficult to do 20 years ago?
—snip—
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